Chapter 35 #2
“What was a long time ago?” Fergusson asked.
She lowered her gaze to her lap. “We bumped into each other at a little local bar. It was shortly after Daphne was born. Ashley was no longer interested in Sonny. Or at least that’s what he said.
He was drowning his sorrows. We talked. He was sweet.
And sad. And glad for my company. We met there after work a few more times.
He was so charming and attentive. Then one night, I—” She ran her tongue over her lips.
“I asked him over to my place. Not here. I had a little apartment in Washington at the time.”
“How long did the relationship go on?”
“Almost a year.”
“Who ended it? You or Mr. Jones?”
Fran’s face came up, her eyes sparking with indignation. “I did.”
Matthias wasn’t sure he believed her. He’d seen her face when Emma returned the ring.
“Why?” Fergusson asked. “Why end it?”
“I should’ve done it sooner.” She choked a laugh. “Hell, I shouldn’t have let it start in the first place, but it took me a while to figure out the kind of man Sonny really was. Longer to decide being alone was better than being with him.”
“What kind of man was he really?”
Her face went still. “Cruel.”
Fergusson shot a look at Lukan and then at Matthias. This wasn’t the answer any of them expected.
Matthias shifted slightly to hide his next movement from Fran. He pointed to his left ring finger. Fergusson gave him a subtle nod of understanding.
“Tell us about the ring,” the trooper said softly.
Her entire body sagged in surrender. “When we were still together, but I was starting to see Sonny a little more clearly, he must’ve sensed he was losing his hold on me. He was never good at letting go. Even worse when it wasn’t his idea. So he bought me the ring in an attempt to buy my affection.”
“Did it work?”
“For a time. He also promised to leave Ashley.”
“And his daughter,” Matthias added.
Fran met his gaze. “Yes.”
“You were okay with that?” Fergusson asked. “Him abandoning his child?”
“Okay with it?” Fran echoed. “By then, I wasn’t okay with much of anything, but I did consider that getting Sonny out of Daphne’s life might be the best thing I could do for her.”
Matthias caught the puzzled look on Fergusson’s face. It matched his own confusion.
“How so?” the trooper asked.
Fran’s expression darkened. “I told you. Sonny was cruel. Oh, he could be charming when he wanted something, but it was a cover.”
“Cruel how?” Fergusson asked, his tone soft.
“With me the abuse was verbal, but I have no doubt it would’ve escalated if I’d stuck around.”
“What about with his wife?”
Fran’s eyes shifted, not meeting either of the troopers’ or Matthias’s. “He beat the crap out of her.”
How the hell had they missed that? If Fergusson’s face was any indication, he was wondering the same thing.
“There are no police reports about this,” Fergusson said.
“Ashley would never report any of the abuse.”
“How well do you know her?”
“Very well. She was in our high school class, too, but I didn’t hang out with her back then.
It wasn’t until after Sonny and I broke up.
I asked her out for coffee. I wanted her to know about the affair and that it was over.
I wanted to warn her to get the hell out of that marriage while she could. ”
“And?”
“She already knew, and apparently I wasn’t the only one.”
Matthias was beginning to form a different picture of Ashley Jones.
“She put up with his infidelity?” Fergusson asked.
“I think she welcomed it. If Sonny was out catting around, he wasn’t focused on her.
She told me that after he and I broke up, he gave her one of the most brutal beatings of their marriage.
I felt horrible, but…” Fran shrugged. “What could I do? I wasn’t about to sacrifice my life for hers.
I apologized to her. She understood. We actually became friends.
I guess because she could confide in me.
After all, very few people knew Sonny as anything other than an attractive, amiable guy who was once a high school football hero. ”
Lukan had a hand pressed to his forehead. “Why on earth did she stay with this monster? You said you warned her.”
“I said I wanted to warn her. Ashley shut me down. She told me all she knew how to do in life was to be Sonny’s wife and Daphne’s mother.
Sonny only ever left bruises on parts of Ashley’s body that she could cover up, so she could keep up the image of being the happy spouse. Like that made everything okay.”
“What about her daughter?” Lukan asked.
“Daphne was always Ashley’s one big demand on Sonny. She told him she’d never report him or what he did… unless he ever laid a hand on their daughter.” Fran looked from Lukan to Fergusson before settling her gaze on Matthias. “She told me if he ever touched Daphne, she would end him.”
Fran’s words chilled Matthias. He’d bought Ashley’s role as a distraught, grieving widow.
Fran offered another picture of the tiny woman in the pink hoodie.
Now, Matthias tried to fit Ashley into the role of killer.
Not only of her husband, but of Patrick Winslow and of Tina Neidermeyer.
Could Ashley have moved Sonny’s body, dug a grave, and buried him in a torrential downpour?
The puzzle pieces didn’t fit, and there was something else Fran hadn’t explained sufficiently.
Fergusson and Lukan rose from their seats and thanked her for her time. She stood as well, looking grateful that their questions were over. The troopers moved toward the door.
Instead of following, Matthias took a step towards Fran. “There’s one thing bothering me.”
She stiffened.
“The ring.”
“I told you—”
“You told us about how and when Jones gave it to you. How did it end up on Emma’s farm?”
Fran appeared puzzled.
“It was in your pocket with the other stuff you found Saturday morning.”
“Oh.” Fran lowered her head before bringing her gaze back to him. “That wasn’t the first time I’d been metal detecting on Emma’s property.” She winced. “I hadn’t asked permission before.”
She hadn’t asked permission from Emma this time either.
“About six months ago, I was out there while wearing the ring. I didn’t realize I’d lost it until a day or so later. I’d been at several places that day and have been going back to them trying to find it ever since. Just my luck. I finally located it on Saturday, and you bust me.”
“You still wore Sonny’s ring? Why,” Matthias asked, “did you keep it all these years?”
Fran’s lips parted, but no words came out.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “but you don’t sound like a woman who ended a relationship and never looked back.” In his peripheral vision, he was aware of Fergusson and Lukan returning their full attention to Fran.
She lowered her head. “I didn’t say I never looked back.
I was in love with Sonny. I can’t deny it.
And I truly believe he was in love with me.
In his own way. The inscription on that ring was a reminder of that.
I admit I still have feelings for him. Oh, I knew what would happen if we got back together.
It would be all passionate for a time. Then something or someone—maybe even me—would trigger him.
He would beat me senseless.” She shook her head.
“Who knows. Maybe I’d be driven to kill him.
A woman can only take so much before either she or the bastard abusing her ends up dead. ”